Anand unlimited

The low-profile Viswanathan Anand bestrides the Indian sporting world like a colossus, writes Vikramdeep Johal

Winning WAYS: Anand bagged the Mainz Classic title last week for the fifth time in succession

Who is the most consistent performer in Indian sport today? Is it Sania Mirza, Narain Karthikeyan, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore or Mahesh Bhupathi? Sania may have broken into the top 50, but she hasn’t won any title since the Hyderabad Open in February; Karthikeyan’s debut in Formula One has been a bumpy ride; Rathore has done little of note after winning the Olympic silver medal; Bhupathi has won eight Grand Slam doubles crowns, but only one in the past three years. Even our star cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly don’t make the grade due to their patchy performances in recent years.

Easily the most deserving of them all is chess great Viswanathan Anand. He has achieved so much over the years that the Indian media and the public are no longer dazzled by his victories, even as other sportspersons hog the limelight for much lesser achievements. However, that hasn’t stopped the low-profile man from winning one event after the other. Last week, he won the Mainz Classic in Germany for the fifth straight time and eighth in total.

Earlier this year, Anand triumphed in the rapid chess tournament in Leon (Spain) by beating world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov. He also made a clean sweep at the Melody Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Monaco.

As if that was not enough, Anand also became the first non-Russian to win the coveted Chess Oscar for the fourth time, beating American Bobby Fischer’s record of three awards. He was voted the winner by a big margin in a poll conducted by Russian chess magazine "64". A total of 445 chess specialists from 75 countries voted for the winner. Anand figured on every list, and was named the first among 279 contenders.

Last year was also quite fruitful for Anand. He won the Corsica Masters, Corus tournament, Dortmund Sparkassen, Mainz Classic and Melody Amber titles. Representing his country after a 12-year hiatus, he guided India to the sixth place in the Chess Olympiad at Mallorca, which was their best-ever show. Had he got adequate support from the other Indian players, the team could have finished even higher.

With Garry Kasparov calling it quits, Anand has become the player to beat in world chess. Complementing his achievements is his amiable, down-to-earth personality, which makes him an ideal role model for youngsters.

He is a huge source of inspiration for the new whiz-kids of Indian chess — Parimarjan Negi, Sahil Grover and N. Srinath — who are all keen to emulate him. They can go far, provided they follow Anand’s example and not let success go to their head.

By his own admission, he has many more years of chess left in him. That would mean the addition of several more titles and awards to his showcase, which is already much pressed for space.

For the media and the people, it is important to hail Anand’s every victory, no matter how effortless it seems. Here is a rare achiever whom we simply can’t take for granted.

Good as gold
Gene Cherry

American sprinter Justin Gatlin was in full cry at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki

A pair of shiny gold medals dangling from his neck for one last photograph, double sprint champion Justin Gatlin left the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki with new confidence and even bigger ambitions.

"This seems like a dream," the Olympic 100 metres champion said of his domineering run to 100 and 200 metres world titles.

"I feel like a new Justin Gatlin," the 23-year-old sprinter said. "Everyone’s perspective of me has changed. People see me as a greater athlete, an ambassador of track and field. I also think more people believe in me."

His victory at last year’s Athens Games alerted the world to his great talent but the speedy race left people wondering if he could do it again in a major championship, Gatlin said.

He answered with the greatest wining margin in championship history in the 100 metres, running 9.88 seconds, and pulled off another one-sided triumph in the 200 m with a 20.04 clocking despite wet, cold weather.

Only former Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene had won both sprints in a world championship.

"You have to do well in the 100 m and 200 m or the 200 m and 400 m to be great," said Gatlin, who believes dominance is the key to success.

The goal now is to chase injured Jamaican Asafa Powell’s June world record of 9.77 seconds.

"It’s the only thing left for me to get," Gatlin said. "I can be the Olympic champion again and the world champion again but it would not feel as good as going out and getting the record," he added. "I have to complete the collection." — Reuters

Back at the helm

Like it or not, Sourav Ganguly is back at the helm and his prime task is to put India on the winning track again. After the disappointing show in Sri Lanka, cricket fans would be satisfied with nothing less than a victory in the one-day tri-series in Zimbabwe.

India’s main rival would be the in-form New Zealand, who crushed the hosts in the two-Test series. However, India can’t afford to take the weak hosts lightly, having survived a scare from the second-string West Indians in the tri-series.

It’s time for Team India to regroup and play as a unit to put at rest all speculation about fissures in the team. The country’s most successful cricket captain must lead from the front if India are to break their dreaded ‘final’ jinx.

The two India-Zimbabwe Tests will be held from September 13-17 and September 20-24

Itinerary

IN THE NEWS
Big shot
Larry Fine

When Phil Mickelson sank an 18-foot birdie putt to win the US Masters last year and shed the dreaded label of best player never to have won a major, he jumped for joy.

When his three-foot putt for birdie disappeared into the hole at the 18th to clinch the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol earlier this week, the 35-year-old American doffed his black baseball cap and wiped his brow in relief.

"It was one of the most stressful tournaments for me because I was in the lead every night and there was an extra night thrown in there for good measure," he said.

Mickelson was referring to the lightning last Sunday that caused play to be suspended for the day, forcing 12 players to return on Monday morning to finish the tournament.

Mickelson tapped his memory and a famed plaque on the 18th fairway for luck to set up the three-footer that earned him a one-shot victory over Australian Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.

Knowing he needed a birdie to win after his picture-perfect tee shot at the last, Mickelson walked a few yards up and tapped his three-wood on a plaque in the ground commemorating a 240-yard, one-iron to the green struck by Jack Nicklaus that led to a birdie and the 1967 US Open title.

"I touched his plaque to get some good karma," Mickelson said.

When his three-wood approach into the wind landed in rough just off the green to the right, the left-hander then reached into his own personal memory bank.

"I tried to remember some of the shots I hit out of the deep stuff as a kid in my backyard," said Mickelson.

"We had some pretty thick rough in our backyard, and that’s exactly what I was thinking on 18, that this is no different from what I’ve done in my backyard since I was a kid.

"I went in aggressively and the ball popped up beautifully and trickled by the hole," he said of his lob wedge shot from 40 feet.

"It was a great feeling to see it come out the way I wanted it to.

"It was a chip shot I had hit tens of thousands of times in my backyard." — Reuters

SPORTS MAIL

Sania Mirza on a roll

Congratulations to Sania Mirza for breaking into the top 50 in world rankings. She scored a stunning victory over world number eight Nadia Petrova of Russia, demolishing her 6-2, 6-1 at the Acura Classic in San Diego recently. Thus she has become the first Indian woman tennis player to enter the top 50.

The teen sensation appears destined to climb up the higher rungs of the tennis ladder.

Her aggressive and assertive approach is standing her in good stead. This season has proved to be wonderful for her. People in the USA have been mesmerised by her eye-catching style.

The American media is going gaga over the rapid strides she has made. Sania has done India proud and seems set to win more laurels for the country, provided success does not go to her head.

Tarsem S. Bumrah, Batala

The tri-series in Sri Lanka was a lacklustre affair. Most of the matches were low-scoring, providing few thrills to the spectators. The only two matches which created some excitement were the last league match between India and the West Indies and the final. In the former, there were many ups and downs and the match could have gone either way but luckily India won by a narrow margin. It remained a cliffhanger till the end.

In the final, it appeared that India would overtake Sri Lanka’s total of 281 (highest in the series), especially when Virender Sehwag blasted a 22-ball 48. Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh further raised hopes of India’s victory with a third-wicket partnership of 84 runs. But thereafter the wickets fell like nine pins and India crashed to an 18-run defeat.

DK Aggarwala, Hoshiarpur

India once again failed to break their "final jinx" and lost the title clash of the triangular one-day series to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankans exhibited superiority in all departments of the game and deservingly lifted the Indian Oil Cup. Chasing a difficult target of 282 runs, the Indian batsmen were never consistent in maintaining the required run rate. They lost wickets one after the other in an effort to accelerate the run rate. Rahul Dravid’s dismissal was the turning point of the game.

Nirmal Kumar, Panchkula

Anil Kumble took three wickets for 38 runs in a crucial match against the West Indies, guiding India into the final of the tri-series. Except Ashish Nehra, no Indian bowlers took any wickets in the final against Sri Lanka. Then why did the selectors drop Kumble from the one-day squad for the Zimbabwe tour? The veteran leg spinner, the match-winner for India on a number of occasions, did not deserve such a raw deal.

Gurudev Singh Jain, Baltana